Effective Rural Project Examples - Rural Health Information Hub

Faith, Activity, and Nutrition

Updated/reviewed September 2026

Need: To increase healthy eating and physical activity levels in Fairfield County, South Carolina.
Intervention: Community health advisors trained church committees and delivered telephone-based technical assistance to improve opportunities, guidelines, messages, and pastor support for physical activity and healthy eating.
Results: In a 2018 study, churchgoers reported seeing more opportunities for physical activity as well as more messages and pastor support for physical activity and healthy eating. Intervention churches also had fewer inactive churchgoers, compared to control churches.

Updated/reviewed September 2026

Need: To provide diabetes care and education services to those in rural southeast Georgia.
Intervention: Diabetes outreach screening, education, and clinical care services were provided to participants in Toombs, Tattnall, and Montgomery counties.
Results: Patients successfully learned self-management skills to lower their blood sugar, cholesterol, and blood pressure.

Added August 2026

Need: To improve children's physical health and social emotional well-being in early care and education (ECE) settings.
Intervention: Go NAPSACC is a web-based delivery program that helps ECE programs complete self-assessments, create an action plan, and complete trainings.
Results: Go NAPSACC is currently in 21 states.

Updated/reviewed April 2026

Need: To increase rural east central Mississippi 8th graders' awareness of behavioral and mental health topics.
Intervention: With federal funding support, an intensive mental health outreach program was created for 8th graders and implemented in 2015.
Results: Since 2015, thousands of rural Mississippi students have received education on a variety of behavioral health topics to improve their understanding of mental health issues, high risk behaviors, and skills to best manage their choices. A decade after implementation, the program continues to reach an annual average of 3,000 students.

Updated/reviewed April 2026

Need: To provide psychotherapy to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.
Intervention: University of Wyoming psychology doctoral students provide psychotherapy via videoconferencing to crisis center clients in two rural locations.
Results: Clients, student therapists, and crisis center staff were satisfied with the quality of services, and clients reported reduced symptoms of depression and PTSD.

Updated/reviewed March 2026

Need: Improve healthcare access and decrease chronic disease disparities in rural Appalachia.
Intervention: A unique community health worker-based chronic care management program, created with philanthropy support.
Results: After a decade of use in attending to population health needs, health outcomes, and healthcare costs, in 2024, the medical condition-agnostic model has a 4-year track record of financial sustainability with recent scaling to include 31 rural counties in a 3-state area of Appalachia and recent implementation in urban areas.

Updated/reviewed March 2026

Need: To develop sustainable, community-wide prevention methods for cardiovascular diseases in order to change behaviors and healthcare outcomes in rural Maine.
Intervention: Local community groups and Franklin Memorial Hospital staff studied mortality and hospitalization rates for 40 years in this rural, low-income area of Farmington to seek intervention methods that could address cardiovascular diseases.
Results: A decline in cardiovascular-related mortality rates and improved prevention methods for hypertension, high cholesterol, and smoking.

Updated/reviewed March 2026

Need: To increase access to medical screening for miners in New Mexico.
Intervention: A mobile screening clinic with telemedicine capability screens miners for respiratory and other conditions.
Results: In a survey, 92% of miners reported their care as very good, while the other 8% reported it as good. The program has expanded to three other states.

Updated/reviewed March 2026

Need: To support parents whose children have been removed from the home so that the parents can make the changes needed for the children to return safely home.
Intervention: A statewide program in Iowa pairs these parents with mentors who have successfully navigated their own child welfare cases.
Results: Participants' children were more likely to return home than non-participants' children, and participants were less likely to have another child removal within a year of the child coming home.

Added February 2026

Need: To increase behaviors that will promote healthy aging in rural Oklahoma.
Intervention: Active Aging for L.I.F.E. offers a college class, lunch and learns, and a high school program that teaches students how their behaviors affect aging.
Results: High school students demonstrated more positive beliefs about growing older, better awareness of the role of physical and brain health, and an increased appreciation for older adults.